Workforce Education

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Federal Grants Fiscal Workshop
Learn the basics of compliance with Federal grants for Washington Community and Technical colleges!
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2008-09 Hospital Employee Education and Training Grants provide funding to labor, management, and college partnerships to develop or expand and evaluate innovative training programs for incumbent hospital workers that lead to careers in nursing and other high-demand health care fields. Application available at the Hospital Employee Education and Training Web site.

2007-08 Job Skills Program Application
Applications are now being accepted for 2007-08. Program guidelines and application materials are available on the Job Skills Program Web site.

Customized Training Program
The Customized Training Program is up and running, and application forms can be submitted at any time. All guidelines and forms are avaliable on the Customized Training Program Web site.

Integrated Programs for Low-Income Students (I-BEST)
I-BEST pairs ESL/ABE instructors with professional-technical instructors in the classroom to provide students with literacy education and workforce skills at the same time. More information is available on the Student Success Web site.

The Workforce Education Department of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges serves the professional and technical programs of Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges.

Partnerships

The department helps build regional and statewide partnerships between colleges and companies, labor organizations, and industry associations. The department works closely with the Association of Washington Business to link colleges with businesses throughout the state. The Association of Washington Business and the department operate a joint website, WorkforceCollege.com, that links businesses with training programs at colleges all over the state.

Economic Development

The focus of the department for the past several years has been on the role of workforce education in economic development. The department works to provide resources and incentives to colleges to work with key strategic industries to build strong regional economies.

Program Approval

The Department also oversees the professional-technical program approval process for the creation of new programs at colleges, offers incentive funding to colleges to start-up new programs in high demand fields. Working with the Workforce Education Council, the association of workforce education deans and directors, the Department works to provide training in analyzing the viability of existing programs.

Funding and Technical Assistance

The Department provides the technical assistance and funding to colleges in the following program areas:

Apprenticeship grants to help maintain and expand apprenticeship programs.
Centers of Excellence funding to help colleges that are designated as Centers of Excellence serve as points of contact and resource hubs for industry trends.
Customized Training for businesses expanding in or re-locating to Washington State.
The Homeland Security Institute is chartered under the Washington State Homeland Security Strategy to provide cross-discipline training and training support systems to emergency responders.
Job Skills grants that provide funding for customized employee training for businesses. This program also links funding for customized training with resources from the Customized Training Program and other state-supported industry-specific programs.
Federal Perkins dollars to help stimulate innovative instruction and to link high schools and colleges together through the Tech Prep program.
Worker Retraining to serve unemployed workers seeking new skills.
WorkFirst block grants to serve low-income students.
Workforce Development / High Demand funds are available in several categories: base allocations, workforce development projects, and high demand grants.

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